'Wild Man' threatened to kill me!

San Francisco, spring, 1966.

I am walking up Haight Street, when I see Larry heading my way from the other direction. As soon as he is in earshot, I turn to a tourist and say, in my best Larry Wild Man voice (sort of a perky whine), "Wanna hear a new-type song for a dime?" Larry did not take my theft of his act well. He grabbed me by the shirt and began to colorfully describe what he'd do if I ever stole his routine again. Took some effort to calm him down and explain that I was not actually using his hustle, but was curious about how he'd react.

This was pre-Zappa. My feeling at the time was that Fischer was truly one-of-a-kind, but had a "talent" (if that's the word) that couldn't be packaged for consumption. That the anti-consumerist genius Frank Zappa was the one to attempt commoditizing Fischer was both ironic and apt.

Hope I get a chance to see this.